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Memorial Day Samba II: All Days Off Should Be Like This

I woke up early on Monday, 8:30, and started rolling lumpia. I did one package of banana, and one package of pork & shrimp (here’s the recipe) By 10:00 I was ready to fry. After the frying I took a shower and cleaned the kitchen, and then packed up all the lumpia in a box and walked to the subway.

I took the C train to 103rd St. and Central Park West, and saw Cuicaman and Bigote. We walked up the stairs together and found the group under a tree on top of Grand Hill. There was a brief pandeiro circle, which turned into a samba circle for a few hours, and then I switched to sinos.

photo by Barri Anne Brown

After sinos my hand was tingling for a half an hour. There were some plenty strong caipirinhas; at one point Maracuja looked like he was on a carnival ride. As far as the food, Cuicaman had some spicy wraps, L had a great potato salad. Maracuja made pecan “chewies” which apparently are not like blondies at all. There were also nutella sandwiches and some guayabas y queso.

photo by Stan Rifkin

That’s me playing caixa.

photo by Stan Rifkin

In this one I’m on the far left playing tamborim. Check out A on the left with the giant hula hoop!

The samba picnic ended around six; the sky got dark and raindrops began to fall, so we packed up and put the drums on the van. I took the C train down to Chelsea, where I met M and Dr. Jazz at the Frying Pan, where we sat on the deck and it didn’t seem to be raining at all. Later we went to the Whiskey Tavern for some picklebacks, and then to Udon West for some late night udon.

Tonight: karaoke league in Times Square. It’s hip hop/R&B night… we’ll see how it goes…